Main Azaad Hoon is a 1989 Hindi film, an Indian adaptation of 1941 Frank Capra film, Meet John Doe by Javed Akhtar about an opportunistic journalist who concocts a fictitious man "man of the masses" in a fictitious article to boost newspaper sales, but when the article gets huge response finds an unemployed man to sit in as him. The film was directed by Tinnu Anand, and starred Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.[1][2]
The film also featured a popular title song written by noted poet Kaifi Azmi and sung by the lead actor himself, Amitabh Bachchan.[3]
The movie begins with a female journalist named Subhashini (Shabana Azmi) working for a daily newspaper and mostly in controversy due to her bold and open mouthed articles against corrupt politicians.
Afer a change in the ownership of the newspaper, she realizes that she stands to lose her job along with many others, especially who are not likely to subscribe to the new management's policies. Feeling betrayed she spews out her venom by penning her column with a fictitious letter ad verbatim, which is supposedly written to her by someone named Azaad. This letter openly criticizes a cross-section of media and the establishment vocalizing unacknowledged and uncomfortable facts. The letter also says that the author of the letter would commit suicide from a high-rise building on 26 January, the Republic Day of India, if certain conditions are not met with.
In this new development, the new owner, Seth Gokulchand (Manohar Singh), senses an opportunity. He thinks of a scheme to promote his newspaper and coaxes Subhashini to establish a column in the name of Azaad and write about the ills of present society and administration. The task for them now is to find a face and character for Azaad, should the question arise about the real identity of the author of the column and the letter.
One day she come across a jobless and nameless vaudevillian character, Amitabh Bachchan), who happens to be drifting by Rajnagar along with another bum friend of his. Subhashini offers him a job asking him to pose as Azaad. The bum sees a chance in it to make a few quick bucks. With this in mind that he has nothing to lose, he accepts the job. Subhashini makes use of the whole propaganda machinery at her disposal to create a public figure for Azaad. Azaad is steadily introduced in the media and local issues, made to attend various public rallies. His native, down to the earth charm finds instantaneous appeal with the people of the town. This draws gullible public to his frequent public addresses. Word spreads like wild fire and soon people from the surrounding rural areas drain in to attend his public appearances. This gathers momentum and soon Azaad becomes a cult figure. Seth Gokulchand initiates the idea of making Azaad a much wider-publicised figure to Subhashini. She very efficiently works on the idea writing articles on Azaad, on Azaad's ideas. This results into Azaad becoming a kind of a nation-wide hero, and is soon perceived as a threat by the local politicians as a potential national leader.
Later he learns through the media that he has been used however he decides to sacrifice for nation and he also falls for Asha. Azad becomes a leader of masses and corrupt politicians challenge him the prove his love for people and nation, he jumps from a 30 story structure under construction building to prove that and dies.
Directed by Tinnu Anand Written by Javed Akhtar Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Shabana Azmi Music by Amar Biswas
Utpal Biswas Distributed by Nadiadwala Sons Release date(s) 15 Dec 1989 Country India Language Hindi
Shabana Azmi
Utpal Biswas
Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story. Though the film is less well known than other Frank Capra classics, it remains highly regarded today. It was ranked #49 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. In 1969, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) due to the claimants' failure to renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after release
Infuriated at being told to write one final column after being laid off from her newspaper job, Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) prints a letter from a fictional unemployed "John Doe" threatening suicide on Christmas Eve in protest of society's ills. When the note causes a sensation and the paper's competition suspects a fraud and starts to investigate, the newspaper editor rehires Mitchell who comes up with a scheme of hiding the fictional nature of "John Doe" while exploiting the sensation caused by the fake letter to boost the newspaper's sales, for which she demands a bonus equal to 8 months' pay. After reviewing a number of derelicts who have shown up at the paper claiming to have penned the original suicide letter, Mitchell and editor Henry Connell (James Gleason) hire John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player and tramp who is in need of money to repair his injured arm, to play John Doe. Mitchell now starts to pen an article series in Doe's name, elaborating on the letter's ideas of society's disregard of people in need.
Willoughby gets $50, a new suit of clothes, and a plush hotel suite with his tramp friend (Walter Brennan), who launches into an extended diatribe against "the heelots", lots of heels who incessantly focus on getting money from others. Willoughby is hired to give radio speeches, guided by Mitchell who is promised $100 a week to write his speeches, paid by the newspaper's publisher, D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold). Willoughby turns down a $5,000 bribe to admit the whole thing was a publicity stunt, gives Mitchell's speech, and dashes off to the countryside with "The Colonel". They ride the rails, playing the harmonica and ocarina until they show up in Millsville, where John Doe is recognized at a diner. He's brought to City Hall, where he's met by Hanson, who gives a five-minute monologue about how he was inspired to start a local John Doe club.
The John Doe philosophy spreads across the country, developing into a broad grassroots movement whose simple slogan is, "Be a better neighbor". Far from being an altruistic philanthropist, however, Norton plans to channel the support for Doe into support for his own national political ambitions. As a culmination of this plan, Norton has instructed Mitchell to write a speech for Willoughby in which he announces the foundation of a new political party and endorses Norton as its presidential candidate.
When Willoughby, who has come to believe in the John Doe philosophy himself, realizes that he is being used, he tries to expose the plot, but is first stymied in his attempts to talk his own mind to a nationwide radio audience at the rally instead of reading the prepared speech, and then exposed as a fake by Norton, who claims to have been deceived, like everyone else, by the staff of the newspaper. Frustrated by his failure, Willoughby intends to commit suicide by jumping from the roof of the City Hall on Christmas Eve, as indicated in the original John Doe letter. Only the intervention of Mitchell and followers of the John Doe clubs persuades him to renege on his threat to kill himself. At this point in the movie, a reference to Jesus Christ is made, that a historical "John Doe" has already died for the sake of humanity. The film ends with Connell turning to Norton and saying, "There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!"
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Frank Capra |
| Screenplay by | Robert Riskin |
| Story by | Richard Connell Robert Presnell, Sr. |
| Starring | Gary Cooper Barbara Stanwyck |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | George Barnes |
| Editing by | Daniel Mandell |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 3, 1941 |
| Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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